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Stories from the lives of athletes, all pressing toward the goal found in John 3:30; “He must increase, but I must decrease”

Entrusted with More – Demario Davis

By:
Demario Davis

June 6, 2017

My family and I take tithing very seriously. God has blessed us with so much and we know that it does not truly belong to us but to Him and should be used for His glory.

We always give the first ten percent of what we have to Him, no matter how much we make. With little and with much, we’ve seen God be faithful to do miraculous things—things we never thought possible—and we know that is directly related to our being faithful to Him.

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” —Luke 16:10

When I started out in the league I was making a rookie’s salary, which to most is a lot but compared to established players’ salaries it isn’t. We tithed ten percent faithfully. When I signed a new contract and my pay rose quite a bit, that ten percent became a much bigger number. Though it was a large jump in our giving, it wasn’t at all hard to do because our hearts were accustomed to giving our best to God first. We always said, “God, whatever You bless us with, we want to be faithful to give back to You.”

Tithing gives us a greater contentment and deepens our trust in God, knowing that we are honoring Him. The Bible often talks about storing treasure up in Heaven; the way we do that is through giving anything and everything God has entrusted to us. Our abilities, talents, resources, money, time—whatever He has entrusted to us—He calls us to invest in His work, for the good of the Kingdom. That’s where our real rewards are—the lasting rewards.

Taking a look at the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, we see that when we invest in our talents for our Master’s glory, our own joy and eternal treasure will multiply. The question, then, shouldn’t be, “How much am I supposed to give?” But rather, “How much can I give?”

When I look at my life—my family, wife, and children who are all healthy and serving the Lord—I cannot take these things for granted. Coming from where we did, never having been in a position to have great wealth, we recognize what God has entrusted to our stewardship and take joy in helping others. This is a blessing for us. We give glory to God because it’s been a journey for us to get here, we haven’t always had that opportunity. We have experienced first-hand how being faithful in the little things will lead to being faithful in the larger things in life. We see how God continually equips us more and more in our talents, abilities, and passions to grow the platform that He’s given us. Whether we are participating in a speaking engagement, marriage retreat, or other opportunity to point others to Christ, we’ve seen God give us the tools to impact people in our home city, across the country, and even around the world. We could never do these things on our own. It’s all because of God and our willingness to be faithful.

We aren’t measuring our return here on earth. We should never think that because we give, we are going to get more. Instead we give with the understanding that each time we sacrifice we are sowing another seed, which will be attributed to our eternal account in Heaven. You may speak to an audience of fifteen, but if one of those people is changed and then goes on to save a thousand souls, you will know when you get to eternity. You won’t always see the immediate return, but you are able to do great things for His glory—sowing seeds because of your faithfulness.

Sow seeds. Hopefully, they will continue to grow and be used for expansive Kingdom building.

—Demario Davis

Demario Davis is a regular contributor to The Increase and will be providing monthly articles and opinions.